The Rooftop
by DanielleMonsch
Summary: Fallon and Reign - a meeting and a parting with only the city lights as witnesses. A drabble set in the Entwined Realms universe.


**The Rooftop (A Story of the Entwined Realms)**

**By: Danielle Monsch**

**© 2013 Danielle Monsch**

"So this is the Dragon Slayer? A human girl?"

It was windy here, on the top of the six-story building situated on the edge of the city, a strong enough wind to drive the cold through the leather of her black coat and settle it in her skin. But the cold was a small price in return for both the view and the sense of peace she had been enjoying, an enjoyment cut short by her visitor.

Fallon didn't need to glance over to know who he was. He didn't hide his magic as he approached, a tsunami of dark power that threatened to topple her, and only the steady weight of Tenro at her back kept her upright.

He stayed on the periphery of her vision, but she refused to offer him the satisfaction of looking his way. "Very perceptive, vampire. What next? Commenting in awe over the fact I have red hair?"

"The hair color is the one thing I approve of." He strolled into her line of vision, a confident walk, the walk of a man who owned all and was comfortable in that power. He turned to face her fully, the blood-red eyes of a vampire alight in the full moon, and the whispers she had heard spoken of him made sense – low, hungry words from men and women who should have known better than to be pulled in by physical beauty from such a foul creature.

Her fingertips itched, and not in desire to release Tenro.

"_Don't be a fool."_

Her spine straightened in instinctive reaction to the tone, the interruption of those words from deep inside her enough to break any fragile bonds the vampire wove around her.

Before her lay the enemy. The only end guaranteed if she forgot that fact? Death – or worse. "Strangely enough, approval from those who don't even introduce themselves tends not to make much of an impression on me."

The corner of his mouth lifted at that, and then the swiftest, lightest furrowing of his brows, as if even he did not expect this reaction. "Forgive my bad manners. Please, call me Reign."

She shrugged, taking care to lift Tenro into his line of vision. "Of course I will…until I can call you a dead enemy, that is."

He smiled widely at that, a humoring smile that still had genuine warmth to it. "And until the day one of us utters those words, what shall I call you?"

"Fallon."

"Fallon." He repeated the name as though he was tasting it, breathing it out to distinguish the subtle shifts, the various nuances. "It suits you."

"Don't expect me to return the compliment."

He was intent, no humor now but no anger either, his whole bearing the relaxed awareness that spoke of one who was relating the complete truth as they knew it. "It is who I am, and not even the Dragon Slayer and wielder of Tenro can change that truth. What are you, girl? Twenty-two, twenty-three?"

"I think this is where I tell you age isn't nothing but a number, and the only thing that matters is how hard I can shove Tenro through your chest."

His features relaxed into a devilish smirk, and his tone became pointed, poking to find the soft spots. "Even younger then? Tenro must be desperate to choose such a champion. Are you allowed out so close to bedtime?"

_Mama clutching her close._

_My brave little girl._

_My beautiful little girl…_

She hadn't been young since she was six, and she returned his smirk with her own, designed to tell him so. "Actually, I was sent out to get some exercise so I could get a good night's sleep. How about I pull my sword and we have ourselves a little workout?"

He faltered, the smirk fading as he studied her with more intensity than he had earlier. He must have reached some internal decision, for the intensity lessened though did not quite disappear. "You just may be a worthy adversary after all."

The fight inside her faded, at those words, at the beginnings of _something_ that was lining his eyes, announcing itself in the tilt of his head. No, she didn't want to fight, and unease filtered through her nerve endings, announcing itself in the goosebumped skin that her layers of clothing hid. "But we aren't going to find that out tonight, are we? After all, you weren't prepared to bump into me, and you wouldn't want to do anything that may cause disruption to your future plans."

No surprise showed on his face at her talk of plans. He either was an excellent poker player, or he long ago accepted that something of the magnitude of ripping apart the Realms could not be hidden. "There is something to be said for anticipation."

There was no innuendo in his tone, but that _something_ deepened, sharpened, and her breath seized in her lungs as surely as if an enemy had landed a punch center of her chest.

He turned away, to go back the way he had approached. "We will see each other again, Dragon Slayer. Don't disappoint me."

He couldn't have the last word, not at this first meeting. "It would hurt my heart to know I didn't live up to your expectations."

Reign glanced over his shoulder, his gaze locking with hers. "No," he murmured, the sound only a decibel louder than the still swirling winds. "I think I need not worry about that."

88888

"I knew I'd find you here."

"Are you saying I'm predictable? Bad habit for my line of work." Fallon answered Reign, taking him in as he came to stand across from her. Such predatory grace, the way he moved, sure and possessed, gentleman and jungle cat in seamless combination.

"Which would you rather I say? That you are predictable, or there is a part of you that no matter how hard you try, I still know?" The question wasn't meant to get an answer, it was meant to get under her skin. Damned if she'd let him see if it did. He only waited a beat before continuing, "I would think after the unfortunate event that occurred with the vault, Kyo would be more careful in letting his people wander alone."

She snorted. "Please. A bunch of idiots waving around items to make themselves look cool, all the while having no clue how to wield them. I'm in more danger of getting hurt from looking at some of Laire's fashion choices."

Reign stood there, looking the same as he did at each of the handful of times they had found themselves together on this rooftop. Still beautiful, still dangerous, still possessing a power that threatened to buckle her knees under her – the only being who could claim that particular privilege. Sometimes she had come in search of him, other times he came to her, but it was as he said…they both somehow just knew.

After all the years, all the war, that fact could stop her in her tracks and terrify her as no bloodshed in battle had the ability to.

He looked her over with blatant intent, his gaze containing an edge that had her swallowing hard before she could stop herself. "Do you know what I think?" he said at last.

"I live to hear such things."

He stepped forward, only a handful of steps, but enough that the full force of his gaze grabbed and held hers, enough that she could almost believe she could feel his breath, hear the beat of his heart under his chest. "I think I am done with anticipation."

In the longest, darkest nights, when she was pushed past exhaustion, almost past sanity, thoughts would occur, thoughts she would never allow herself otherwise. Now, Reign stood before her and, with only a sentence, battered against a door she did not acknowledge existed – and on the other side of that door, all those thoughts screamed and scratched to be let free.

A cry for help broke through the haze, and in instinctive reaction her head whipped to track the sound. The door safe, she looked back to Reign. "One of yours?"

Reign's face was a mask of fury. "If it is, they'll beg for death months before I let them experience it."

"And here I thought Kyo was a tough boss."

She walked to the edge, ready to jump down, only to be stopped by Reign's words. "We will not meet here again, will we?"

The truth of his words hit her, and loss came hard on its heels. No, they would not meet here again. The end game was in motion, and the strange neutrality that marked these meetings no longer existed. Looking into those beautiful blood-red eyes, she opened her mouth to speak, shaped her lips around the word, but the sound wouldn't come, the final affirmation refusing to let itself be uttered.

Another cry, and Fallon tore herself away from his gaze and went to help whoever was waiting. She did not look back.

She did not look back.


End file.
